Whitford Fine Art is pleased to announce its forthcoming exhibition entitled WANGKARTU DREAMING: HELICOPTER TJUNGURRAYI & LUCY YUKENBARRI Wednesday 22nd April to Friday 22nd May.

Whitford Fine Art has recognised the transformation of Aboriginal art during the last 10 years - progressing from traditional ‘dot’ paintings to the development of an independent and unique painterly style. During the last few years the gallery has carefully built a selection of Aboriginal artworks. To mark the launching of this new area of expertise we will present our first exhibition showing two prominent Aboriginal artists, consisting of seventeen paintings by Helicopter Tjungurrayi (b. 1947) and his late wife Lucy Yukenbarri (c. 1934 - 2003).

For Aboriginal peoples art goes far beyond the mere expression of their surrounding environment or land: it also articulates their sacred ancestral traditions and rituals or Dreamings - a term used by the Aborigines to describe the balance between the spiritual, the natural and moral elements of the world, which to them have not changed since Creation. ‘Helicopter’ was the name given to the Aboriginal boy, who in 1957 was found dying in the vast desert interior of Australia and was rescued by an aerial surveyor working for a mining company, who flew him to the Balgo mission - an isolated outpost at the edge of the Great Western Desert. Having never seen a helicopter before, the natives feared this to be the evil ‘Mamu’, a large flying beast, a creation myth from the Papunya tribe Dreaming. The boy would be associated forever with the flying machine and since this event has always been referred to as ‘Helicopter’.

During his flight, the vision of wave after wave of parallel sand dunes was seared into Helipcopter’s memory forever and defined they way the artist would later interpret the landscape in his painting. In the mid 1960s Helicopter married Lucy Yukenbarri, daughter of the well known painter Wimitji Tjapanardi. Together they were inseparable and became the best known painting couple in the Wangkartu region. They would paint for hours daily, sitting side by side with Helicopter helping and assisting Lucy with her work. Their canvasses reflect aspects of their own personalities but the subject matter is often similar: water soaks, rock holes, sand dunes. From 1995 Helicopter painted and exhibited under his own name and still continues to work with Warlayirti Artists.

Helicopter’s work has been widely exhibited in Australia, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Holland, France, Singapore, and The United States.

10am - 6pm
Monday - Friday

Location Information: Whitford Fine Art
6 Duke Street St. James's
London SW1Y 6BN